One of my co-workers had the awful idea to have a coffee drinking contest at work. Rules are that cups must be "regular" office styrofoam cups (12 oz); regular nasty work kitchen coffee as well - no decaf, Starbucks, Dunkin, etc. The contest starts at 7:30 and ends at 5:00...most cups wins.

I can handle my caffeine, but probably have never put down more than 8-10 cups in a workday. There will be 3 of us (all competitive minded mid 20's guys) in the contest, and one guy claims he can "easily" go for 35-40 cups. I know for a fact if it gets above 25 or so I'm in trouble. Anyone done something similar, or have any input on this? Are there serious health risks of consuming this much caffeine?

I think I'm going to go for nice evenly paced cups, then make a late push if needed. I don't want to get caught up in a sprint out of the gate and DNF. And yes, I know this is stupid, immature, etc.

The only concern that I would have would be the dehydration issue if you're running a lot right now. If you're doing low/no milage, I wouldn't worry too much. The caffeine buzz might get to an annoying level, but I don't think it'll cause any real health problems unless you have some heart condition. Of course, not the kind of thing you want to do every day, but if you're healthy it's probably safe to do once. I'm no doctor though, so if you die, I apologize in advance for misleading you. Good luck.

Caffeine intake is restricted (but not totally banned) by the NCAA. Urine concentrations up to 15 mcg/ml are permitted by the NCAA, about 500 mg of caffeine ingested within one hour would approximate this level in a normal adult male. Levels above this would result in a failed drug test.

Brady Anderson wrote:I once saw this documentary about artists living in Paris during the early 20th century, and there was this one dude who drank like 40 cups of coffee every day while sitting in some cafe. I don't know what the size of his cups were, but that's a lot of coffee.

The coffee in Paris is served in tiny cups--but it's a good thing it is. You're getting jet fuel--very, very strong stuff! I tend to drink coffee black and in Paris when I asked for black coffee, I'd get some pretty skeptical looks from the person selling it... "Are you sure, madame?" I soon understood why, but I continued to drink it black.

I'm surprised anyone could survive drinking forty cups of Parisian coffee in a day, but I guess if your system is used to it....

I'd choose discretion over victory in a contest like the one described by the OP.

Brady Anderson wrote:I once saw this documentary about artists living in Paris during the early 20th century, and there was this one dude who drank like 40 cups of coffee every day while sitting in some cafe. I don't know what the size of his cups were, but that's a lot of coffee.

The coffee in Paris is served in tiny cups--but it's a good thing it is. You're getting jet fuel--very, very strong stuff! I tend to drink coffee black and in Paris when I asked for black coffee, I'd get some pretty skeptical looks from the person selling it... "Are you sure, madame?" I soon understood why, but I continued to drink it black.

I'm surprised anyone could survive drinking forty cups of Parisian coffee in a day, but I guess if your system is used to it....

I'd choose discretion over victory in a contest like the one described by the OP.

I'm pretty sure that the person you're thinking about was the writer Honore de Balzac--not an early 20th century guy, but a mid-19th century guy. I've heard that he composed his novel after drinking several dozen cups of coffee.

anEconomist

RE: Coffee drinking contest....how much is possible?2/4/2008 4:17PM - in reply to kudzurunner

strongest consistent cup of coffee/espresso I've come across in the world...

strata on college ave in berkeley

stuff makes peet's look like water

italian espresso i found to be the best in europe but it was only about as strong as peet's

kudzurunner wrote:

dpmrunner wrote:

Brady Anderson wrote:I once saw this documentary about artists living in Paris during the early 20th century, and there was this one dude who drank like 40 cups of coffee every day while sitting in some cafe. I don't know what the size of his cups were, but that's a lot of coffee.

The coffee in Paris is served in tiny cups--but it's a good thing it is. You're getting jet fuel--very, very strong stuff! I tend to drink coffee black and in Paris when I asked for black coffee, I'd get some pretty skeptical looks from the person selling it... "Are you sure, madame?" I soon understood why, but I continued to drink it black.

I'm surprised anyone could survive drinking forty cups of Parisian coffee in a day, but I guess if your system is used to it....

I'd choose discretion over victory in a contest like the one described by the OP.

I'm pretty sure that the person you're thinking about was the writer Honore de Balzac--not an early 20th century guy, but a mid-19th century guy. I've heard that he composed his novel after drinking several dozen cups of coffee.

If this contest hasn't been done then I would like to offer a suggestion. I've done an alcohol and a food consumption contest with similar time restraints and found an even intake method the best route but also be conscious of the leading consumer. Don't let anyone get too far ahead of you and don't be afraid to eat just keep the meals smaller and spread out. If it is close in the end then I would never let anyone beat me (other than some professional eaters).

Those super dark French and Italian roasts are actually weaker in caffeine (as well as in the inherent flavor of the coffee bean) than lighter roasts.

I'm not saying they don't brew their coffee and/or espresso strong (as in a concentrated final product), just making the tangential point that the dark roasts people tend to think of as "strong", aren't, caffeine-wise, compared to beans less burnt.

potentially worried wrote:One of my co-workers had the awful idea to have a coffee drinking contest at work. Rules are that cups must be "regular" office styrofoam cups (12 oz); regular nasty work kitchen coffee as well - no decaf, Starbucks, Dunkin, etc. The contest starts at 7:30 and ends at 5:00...most cups wins.

I can handle my caffeine, but probably have never put down more than 8-10 cups in a workday. There will be 3 of us (all competitive minded mid 20's guys) in the contest, and one guy claims he can "easily" go for 35-40 cups. I know for a fact if it gets above 25 or so I'm in trouble. Anyone done something similar, or have any input on this? Are there serious health risks of consuming this much caffeine?

I think I'm going to go for nice evenly paced cups, then make a late push if needed. I don't want to get caught up in a sprint out of the gate and DNF. And yes, I know this is stupid, immature, etc.

And unhealthy, even dangerous. But good luck.

Flying Dutchman

RE: Coffee drinking contest....how much is possible?2/16/2008 4:29AM - in reply to fall down drunk

I'm quite surprised to be the first one on this thread to tell this type of story. A few months ago I went to buy some drinks at a local market when I saw a friend of mine there, and he was talking to this old guy. When we had a chat a few minutes later, he told me that the old guy´s son, or someone he knew, died because he drank 17 red bulls in one night. He had a heart attack. Now I know that red bull contains lots of caffeine, but still, I wouldn´t do it if I where you, unless you are used to drinking large amounts of coffee.